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24 July 2011

Completely Unedited Gushing: Tim Minchin at Warner Theater

Warning: like the title says, this is completely unedited gushing. No apologies, just this warning.

I just got home from Tim Minchin performing at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. And I'm sorry to tell you that this was his last performance in his U.S. tour but if you ever get a chance to see this man live, jump on it!

Seriously, you guys. I drifted out of the theater wondering how I was supposed to just go home after that. I mean, wow. I vaguely remember feeling like this after a blues dancing workshop several years ago.

More Extended Summary: The man has a voice that would make angels weep. If he believed in angels--which he doesn't. I can't pretend to understand what Tim Minchin is all about. I'm pretty sure there are several layers of meaning, along with lots of irony, and probably loads of stuff that's just going over my head because this guy is intelligent--seriously witty. Example: he made a statistics joke. He's also kinda awkward, and I couldn't tell how much of it was intentional. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume 90% was intentional. On an unrelated note, he wasn't wearing any socks or shoes. What's that about?

Funniest Part:On the first Encore, someone in the audience shouted a song request -- for "10-foot cock and a few hundred virgins." (Don't click that link if you don't like humor about religion.) Tim's response was something along the lines of "I can't tell you how many times people have shouted '10-foot cock' at me."

Some Selections for your entertainment: Here are two YouTube clips of my favorite Tim Minchin pieces that he did perform tonight.

On a more serious note: He really does have a beautiful voice and plays wonderfully, but he doesn't take himself too seriously.

Second Encore: I admit I had been hoping all evening that Tim would perform Hallelujah. So it was definitely awesome that he did. It's the only piece he performed that wasn't his own creation. I'm going to include another YouTube clip, even though he's completely drunk in this clip. He's still a marvelous singer though.

He claimed that he plays this song for two reasons. 1. It's one of the most beautiful songs ever. 2. He attracts a crowd of 95% atheists, and he gets a kick out of a crowd of atheists singing hallelujah.

Well, I don't know if the crowd was 95% atheists, but everyone certainly got caught up in the song.

Wow.

So here's another artist for my list of people I wish I were as cool as.

Shout Out: Thanks to JenMcCreight ofBlag Hag(and a fellow Purdue alum!) for gushing on her blog about her experience seeing Tim's performance in Seattle last month. I wouldn't have heard of him in time to make this show otherwise.

[Edit] I realized several hours after writing this post that I had first heard of Tim Minchin via Jen McCreight, but it was Neil Gaiman's post in his journal about hanging out with Tim and seeing his show in Seattle that made me actually go check out Tim's stuff on YouTube. And really? Anything Neil Gaiman recommends is pretty much gold. (Honestly, it was the combination of recommendations by Jen McCreight and Neil Gaiman that got me interested.)

Now You!

Have you heard of Tim Minchin before? Are there any comedian/musician/artists that you particularly enjoy?